Cherry stemming machine

ABSTRACT

A cherry stemming machine includes a plurality of elongated feed bars arranged in an endless belt configuration and having a plurality of pockets provided therein adapted to receive individual cherries from a loading hopper. An elongated rotating feed brush is provided to sweep excess cherries from the top of the feed bars and to brush the stems of cherries disposed in the pockets back along the top surface of the feed bars as they pass by the feed brush where they may be lightly gripped against the feed bars by a stem hold down plate and rubber strip. A plurality of pressure bars and pads are disposed in an endless belt configuration and have rubber fingers provided thereon which urge the cherries out of the bottoms of the pockets and locate the cherries at a predetermined position with their shoulders against the bottom of the feed bars. A transfer brush is mounted directly under the rubber strip. This rotary brush carries over any cherries that have no stems or any with stems that may not be held back with the rubber strip. Further progress of the cherries with the feed bars is restricted by a series of flexible walls disposed at progressively closer proximity to the feed bars to interfere with the path of the cherries. As the cherries pass over the series of flexible walls they oscillate on the stem. Thus they do not receive a single sudden shock as in competative stemmers, but a more gentle action to loosen the stems. Thus the stem is pulled from the cherry. A series of passages through the flexible wall assembly allow the free cherries to drop through the flexible wall assembly to a collecting bin. The stems are thrown into a second collecting bin when the fruit holders and pressure bars separate.

United States Patent [1 1 Hesse et a1.

[ Dec. 3, 1974 CHERRY STEMMING MACHINE [75] Inventors: Earl J. Hesse, Oakland; Frederick J.

Cimperman, San Lorenzo; Howard B. Severson, San Leandro, all of Calif.

[73] Assignee: Vistan Corporation, San Leandro,

Calif.

[22] Filed: Sept. 13, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 288,505

Primary Examinerl'larvey C. Hornsby Assistant ExaminerArthur 0. Henderson Attorney, Agent, or Firm Naylor, Neal & Uilkema [57] ABSTRACT A cherry stemming machine includes a plurality of elongated feed bars arranged in an endless belt configuration and having a plurality of pockets provided therein adapted to receive individual cherries from a loading hopper. An elongated rotating feed brush is provided to sweep excess cherries from the top of the feed bars and to brush the stems of cherries disposed in the pockets back along the top surface of the feed bars as they pass by the feed brush where they may be lightly gripped against the feed bars by a stem hold down plate and rubber strip. A plurality of pressure bars and pads are disposed in an endless belt configuration and have rubber fingers provided thereon which urge the cherries out of the bottoms of the pockets and locate the cherries at a predetermined position with their shoulders against the bottom of the feed bars. A transfer brush is mounted directly under the rubber strip. This rotary brush carries over any cherries that have no stems or any with stems that may not be held back with the rubber strip.

Further progress of the cherries with the feed bars is restricted by a series of flexible walls disposed at progressively closer proximity to the feed bars to interfere with the path of the cherries. As the cherries pass over the series of flexible walls they oscillate on the stem. Thus they do not receive a single sudden shock as in competative stemmers, but a more gentle action to loosen the stems. Thus the stem is pulled from the cherry.

A series of passages through the flexible wall assembly allow the free cherries to drop through the flexible wall assembly to a collecting bin. The stems are thrown into a second collecting bin when the fruit holders and pressure bars. separate.

7 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures lo H26 l l PATENTEL 553 31974 SIEET3DF5 PATENTEL 5E3 974 SHEET k [If 5 CHERRY STEMMING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the field of fruit processing, and more particularly to apparatus for removing stems from fruit, such as cherries.

Cherry stemming machines are well known in the prior art. They usually include a series of fruit holding pockets for receiving cherries, means for gripping the cherry stems while the cherries are in the fruit holders, and means for allowing the cherries to fall out of the fruit holders where they may be pulled from their stems by a stemming device such as a rotating brush. However, such prior art devices are not completely effective because the cherries cannot be positioned for short and long stems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for removing stems from fruit.

This and other objects and advantages are achieved by providing a cherry stemming apparatus, which includes a plurality of elongated feed bars having pockets provided therein which are adapted to receive individual cherries from a loading hopper, and a large rotary feed brush disposed at the exit of the hopper transverse to the motion of the feed bars to brush the cherry stems down against the top of the feed bars. A stem hold down plate and rubber strip retains the cherry stems against the top surface of the feed bars as they leave the hopper. A transfer brush is mounted directly under the rubber strip. This rotary brush carries over any cherries that have no stems or any with stems that may not be held back with the rubber strip. A series of pressure bars, having resilient pressure pads mounted thereon, are mounted between two endless chains which provide for successive rotation of the pressure pads into contact with the top surface of successive feed bars and subsequent movement of the pressure pads with the feed bars over a fruit stemming device. Each pressure pad has a series of fingers provided thereon which register with and depend into each feed bar pocket to urge the cherries out of the pockets a predetermined distance and to prevent them from re-entering the pockets.

A stemming device is also provided by the present invention which comprises a flexible wall assembly constructed of a resilient flexible material such as rubber and includes a series of flexible walls disposed in progressively closer proximity to the bottom surface of the feed bars. As the cherries pass over the series of flexible walls they oscillate on the stem. Thus they do not receive a single sudden shock as in competative stemmers, but a more gentle action to loosen the stems.

The cherry stems are thrown off into a separate bin upon separation of the feed bars and the pressure pads as their respective endless chains move around associated sprocket wheels.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a cherry stemming apparatus embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the cherry stemming apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of a portion of the cherry stemming apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the feed bars, pressure bars, and stemming device of the present invention;

FiG. 5 is a sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4 taken along a plane indicated by the arrows 55;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a section of a pressure bar and associated pressure pad of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of a section of a feed bar of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a top view of a portion of the flexible wall assembly of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is an exploded view of a flexible wall block and associated base plate of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus embodying the present invention is shown, and includes a frame 12, a motor 14 mounted on the frame and having a drive shaft 16 extending therefrom, a sprocket 18 mounted on the end of drive shaft 16, a shaft 20 rotatably mounted on the frame and extending therethrough, a sprocket 22 mounted on one end of shaft 20 and an endless chain 24 disposed on sprockets l8 and 22 for driving shaft 20 by means of motor 14. A pinion wheel 26 is disposed on the other end of shaft 20 in driving engagement with a second pinion wheel 28 mounted on a shaft 30, which is rotatably mounted on frame 12.

Also mounted on shaft 20 are chain sprockets 32 and 34 which drive endless chains 36 and 38, respectively, disposed on idler sprockets 40 and 42 and 44 and 46, respectively, which are rotatably mounted on frame 12. A transfer brush 48 is supported intermediate sprocket 32 and idler 42 by a shaft 50 which is rotatably mounted on frame 12 and has a sprocket 52 disposed on one end thereof which is driven by a chain 54. Chain 54 is in turn driven by a sprocket 56 disposed on one end of shaft 20. I

Mounted on shaft 30 inboard of pinion 28 are chain sprockets 58 and 60 which drive endless chains 62 and .64. Chains 62 and 64 loop around sprockets 58 and 60 and idler sprockets 66 and 68, respectively, which are rotatably mounted on frame 12.

Extending between chains 36 and 38 are a plurality of feed bars 70 which comprise an elongated bar having a series of apertures 72 provided therein to form pockets for holding individual cherries. As shown in FIG. 5, each feed bar is attached to chains 36 and 38 by angle brackets 74.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 3, a loading hopper 76 is mounted on frame 12 to receive cherries for processing by the cherry stemming apparatus. Hopper 76 has an open bottom whereby cherries disposed in the hopper are allowed to communicate with feed bars 70 which are moved along the bottom of the hopper and over a skid plate 78 by chains 36 and 38. It will be apparent that some of the cherries contacting the feed bars will fall into pockets 72 provided therein while others may merely become lodged on the top of the feed bars. As the feed bars traverse the bottom of the hopper they ascend an inclined plane, which will tend to cause cherries not retained within pockets to roll back toward the lower portion of the hopper. As the driven by an electric motor 86 mounted on the side of frame 12 by means ofa bracket 88, through a chain 90.

Referring now to FIG. 4, feed brush 80 not only serves to clear the feed bars of cherries which are not disposed within pockets, but also serves to orient the stems of cherries that are disposed within pockets back along the top surface of the feed bars. As the feed bars leave the feed brush, the cherry stems are retained against the top surface of the feed bars by a stern hold down plate and rubber strip assembly 92, which lightly grips the stems, holding the cherries in the pockets.

As each successive feed bar passes under stem hold down plate and rubber strip assembly 92, it leaves skid plate 78 which prevented the cherries from falling out of a pocket, and is met by a pressure bar 94. A transfer brush is mounted directly under the rubber strip. This rotary brush carries over any cherries that have no stems or any with stems that may not be held back with the rubber strip.

As shown in FIG. 6, each pressure bar 94 includes a pressure pad 96 which comprises an elongated bar of resilient material, such as rubber, having depending fingers 89 provided thereon and arranged to register with pockets 72 in associated feed bars 70. Each pressure bar is mounted between chains 62 and 64 by means of angle brackets 100, as shown in FIG. 5. Each plate is provided with a plurality of pins 102 which penetrate pin holes 104 in pressure pad 96 to retain the pressure pad on the plate.

As pressure bars 94 rotate around idler sprocket 66, they rotate into engagement with the top surface of feed bars 70. The cherry stems are lightly held by stem hold down plate assembly 92 whereby fingers 98 are required to push the cherries out of the bottom of the pocket a predetermined distance until the cherry stems are tightly gripped between the top surface of the feed bars and the pressure pads, whereupon the cherries are suspended below the feed bars and prevented from moving back into the pockets by fingers 98. The cherries are then carried by the feed bars andcorresponding pressure pads to a stemming device. Since each cherry is positioned a predetermined distance from the feed bars, and from the stemming device, the stemming device will operate upon each cherry in the same manner, regardless of the length of its stem.

A stemming device comprises a resilient wall assembly 106, shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. The assembly includes a base plate 108 having a series of upstanding pins 110 provided thereon and a resilient wall structure 112 comprising a plurality of elongated resilient blocks 114 having pin holes 116 provided therein by means of which blocks 114 are mounted on base plate 108.

Blocks 114 are provided with an upper face 118 having a series of transverse grooves 120 provided therein to form a series of upstanding walls l 12 thereon. Apertures 124 are provided in blocks 114 and base plate 108 to allow cherries to drop through the wall assembly.

is positioned below fruit holders 70 at progressively closer proximity thereto whereby cherries suspended Referring again to FIG. 4, resilient wall assembly 106 6 on their stems below the fruit holders will be engaged by one of the upstanding flexible walls 122. The largest cherries will be engaged by the first flexible wall encountered, 122a, while smaller cherries may pass by wall 122a and be engaged instead by subsequent walls 122b or 1220, which are successively closer to fruit holders 70.

The entrance end of the stemming device is spaced about 10mm distance down from the bottom of the feed bars and the exit end just touches the bottom of the bars. A hard piece of rubber A inches thick X 2 inches X l8 inches is provided at the exit end. This either stems the cherry or breaks the stern of an occasionally tough cherry.

As the cherries pass over the series of flexible walls they oscillate on the stem. Thus they do not receive a single sudden shock as in competitive stemmers, but a more gentle action to loosen the stems. The stems continue to move with the feed bars and pressure pads until they separate and move around sprockets 32 and 58, respectively, whereupon the stems will fall off the feed bars.

This stemmer is particularly adapted to handle orchardrun cherries, i.e., sizes 16 to 30 mm.

Its main advantages over prior known stemmers are that it grips the stems at uniform, minimum distances from the fruit, thereby reducing the production percentage of unwanted, unstemmed (i.e., cherries having short, broken stems) cherries and that it then rolls the cherries into a state of separation from the stems.

While this invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, and with respect to cherries, it will be understood that a similar apparatus could be used with other stemmed fruit, and their various modifications and variations may be effected by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A machine for stemming fruit comprising:

a frame,

a loading hopper mounted on the frame for receiving fruit for processing,

a plurality of feed bars having pockets provided therein for receiving individual fruit from the hopper,

endless chain means attached to said feed bars for driving the feed bars,

a feed brush for sweeping fruit from the tops of the feed bars as they leave the loading hopper and for brushing fruit stems extending from the pockets down against the tops of the feed bars,

holding means for holding the fruit stems down against the top of the feed bars,

stem gripping means for gripping fruit stems against the tops of the feed bars and suspending the fruit below the feed bars,

retaining means for retaining fruit in the pockets until engaged by the stem gripping means,

means for preventing fruit suspended below the feed bars from re-entering the pockets, and

stemming means for removing fruit suspended below the feed bars from their stems.

2. The invention according to claim 1 wherein the stem gripping means includes the means for preventing fruit suspended below the feed bars from re-entering the pockets.

3. The invention described in claim 2 wherein the stem gripping means comprises,

endless chain means,

a plurality of pressure bars attached to said endless chain means and driven thereby,

said pressure bars including pressure pads comprising elongated, flexible bars having faces provided thereon which are adapted to tightly engage the top surfaces of feed bars,

the faces of said pressure pads being provided with fingers arranged to register with and depend into the pockets in the feed bars in a one-to-one relationship.

4. The invention described in claim 3 wherein the holding means lightly holds the fruit against the weight thereof in the pockets until the fruit is engaged by said fingers and urged out of the pockets.

5. The invention according to claim 4 wherein the holding means comprises a stem hold down plate mounted in closely spaced parallel relationship above the tops of the feed bars and wherein said plate has a rubber strip on one side thereof for engaging and lightly holding fruit stems against the tops of the feed bars.

6. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein said fruit stemming means comprises at least one flexible wall arranged below the path of the feed bars to interfere with advancement of fruit depending therefrom with said feed bars whereby fruit stems gripped between the feed bars and pressure pads and moving therewith will be pulled out of fruit engaged by the flexible wall.

7. The invention described in claim 6 wherein said fruit stemming means comprises a plurality of flexible walls disposed below the path of the feed bars at progressively greater proximity thereto, and a plurality of fruit passages associated with each flexible wall for directing fruit removed by each flexible wall to respective containers associated therewith, whereby fruits will be 

1. A machine for stemming fruit comprising: a frame, a loading hopper mounted on the frame for receiving fruit for processing, a plurality of feed bars having pockets provided therein for receiving individual fruit from the hopper, endless chain means attached to said feed bars for driving the feed bars, a feed brush for sweeping fruit from the tops of the feed bars as they leave the loading hopper and for brushing fruit stems extending from the pockets down against the tops of the feed bars, holding means for holding the fruit stems down against the top of the feed bars, stem gripping means for gripping fruit stems against the tops of the feed bars and suspending the fruit below the feed bars, retaining means for retaining fruit in the pockets until engaged by the stem gripping means, means for preventing fruit suspended below the feed bars from re-entering the pockets, and stemming means for removing fruit suspended below the feed bars from their stems.
 2. The invention according to claim 1 wherein the stem gripping means includes the means for preventing fruit suspended below the feed bars from re-entering the pockets.
 3. The invention described in claim 2 wherein the stem gripping means comprises, endless chain means, a plurality of pressure bars attached to said endless chain means and driven thereby, said pressure bars including pressure pads comprising elongated, flexible bars having faces provided thereon which are adapted to tightly engage the top surfaces of feed bars, the faces of said pressure pads being provided with fingers arranged to register with and depend into the pockets in the feed bars in a one-to-one relationship.
 4. The invention described in claim 3 wherein the holding means lightly holds the fruit against the weight thereof in the pockets until the fruit is engaged by said fingers and urged out of the pockets.
 5. The invention according tO claim 4 wherein the holding means comprises a stem hold down plate mounted in closely spaced parallel relationship above the tops of the feed bars and wherein said plate has a rubber strip on one side thereof for engaging and lightly holding fruit stems against the tops of the feed bars.
 6. The apparatus described in claim 1 wherein said fruit stemming means comprises at least one flexible wall arranged below the path of the feed bars to interfere with advancement of fruit depending therefrom with said feed bars whereby fruit stems gripped between the feed bars and pressure pads and moving therewith will be pulled out of fruit engaged by the flexible wall.
 7. The invention described in claim 6 wherein said fruit stemming means comprises a plurality of flexible walls disposed below the path of the feed bars at progressively greater proximity thereto, and a plurality of fruit passages associated with each flexible wall for directing fruit removed by each flexible wall to respective containers associated therewith, whereby fruits will be loosened from their stems by a gentle, oscillating motion. 